The Rocket

These conditions can best be met when the expulsion of the masses
is obtained by burning suitable substances carried on the vehicle
and by permitting the resulting gases of combustion to escape
towards the rear"to exhaust." In this manner, the masses
are expelled in the smallest particles (molecules of the combustion
gases), and the energy being freed during the combustion and being
converted into gas pressure provides the necessary "internal
power" for this process.

The well known fireworks rocket represents a vehicle of this type
in a simple implementation (Figure 15). Its purpose is to lift
a socalled "bursting charge": there are all sorts of
fireworks that explode after reaching a certain altitude either
to please the eye in a spectacular shower of sparks or (in warfare,
by way of example) to provide for lighting and signaling.

The continual movement (lifting) of a fireworks rocket of this
type takes place as a result of a powder charge carried in the
rocket, designated as the "propellant." It is ignited
when the rocket takes off and then gradually burns out during
the climb, with the resulting combustion gases escaping towards
the rear (downward) and as a result by virtue of its reaction
effectproducing a continuous propulsion force directed forward
(up) in the same way as was previously discussed.

However, a rocket that is supposed to serve as a vehicle for outer
space would, to be sure, have to look considerably different from
a simple fireworks rocket.

Figure 15. Fireworks rocket in a longitudinal section. The attached
guide stick serves to inhibit tumbling of the rocket.